Fighting for Equity in Education

The struggle is long but hope is longer

Public schools will lose about $6.1 billion in funding over ten years from 2018 under the new Bilateral Agreement between the Commonwealth and Western Australian Governments and they will be under-funded by about $4.6 billion to 2027. In contrast, the Agreement allows private schools to continue to be over-fund >> Read on...

Public schools in NSW and South Australia will be swindled out of about $7.5 billion over the next decade under new special deals incorporated in education agreements recently negotiated with the Commonwealth Government. Public schools around the country will lose about $16.5 billion over ten years if the swindle is extended to other states, as is likely. The swindle is implemented by selectively changing the rules on what is included in the measure of the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) for public schoo >> Read on...

Yet another study shows that money matters in education. There is now compelling evidence from some 13 studies in the last two years showing that increased expenditure on public schools improves student achievement, especially when targeted at disadvantaged studen >> Read on...

The Morrison Government has put more nails in the Gonski coffin with its new special funding deal for private schools. It decided a $3.2 billion increase for Catholic schools before determining the measure of need and is providing a $1.2 billion slush fund not based on nee >> Read on...

Labor and Coalition state governments are trying to evade commitments to increase their funding of public schools through a subterfuge. If successful, public schools, which enrol over 80% of disadvantaged students, could lose up to $2.6 billion a yea >> Read on...

Despite much rhetoric about its support for public schools, the ACT Government has cut funding for public schools since 2009. It even cut its funding during the Gonski funding period, after agreeing to increase i >> Read on...

Total government funding per student in public schools (adjusted for inflation) was cut between 2009 and 2016 while funding for Catholic and Independent schools increased significantly. Even during the Gonski funding period of 2013-2016 funding increases for private schools far outstripped the increase for public school >> Read on...

The NSW Auditor-General has slammed the NSW Dept of Education for its failure to ensure that the Catholic and Seventh-Day Adventist school systems are accountable for the way the spend NSW Government funding. It also condemned the failure of the Dept to verify private school enrolments for funding purpose >> Read on...

Money matters in education for low income students. A major new study shows that legislative reforms in the United States that led to increases in funding in low income school districts led to large increases in student achieveme >> Read on...

Labor’s claim that it is merely restoring funding cut from Catholic schools by the Turnbull Government is disingenuous. In fact, it is restoring massive over-funding created by the Howard Government’s socio-economic status (SES) funding model which Labor surreptitiously folded into its Gonski funding mode >> Read on...

New figures show that the Coalition Govt in Victoria slashed funding for public schools from 2009 to 2014. There was a small increase in the first year of the Andrews Govt, but public schools in Victoria will remain significantly under-funded without a major funding effo >> Read on...

New figures show that the arms race in ostentatious facilities between elite private schools in Sydney is being fuelled by more than $170 million a year in government over-funding. This includes about $50 million in over-funding beyond their entitlements under the Turnbull Government’s Gonski 2.0 funding arrangement >> Read on...

The arms race in lavish facilities between elite private schools in Sydney is being fuelled by more than $150 million in over-funding by the Commonwealth and NSW Governments. It frees up private income from fees and donations to devote to expanding luxury facilities and denies much needed resources for disadvantaged schoo >> Read on...

Seven new studies published in the last four months demonstrate that money matters in education, especially for disadvantaged students. Increased funding has large effects on student achievement and high school graduation rates. Numerous earlier studies have found similar effects. The problem in Australia is that past funding increases have been small and directed to school sectors with the least ne >> Read on...

Funding for public schools was boosted under the Gonski 1.0 funding plan by much more than for private schools and reversed the previous trend of funding cuts to public schools. However, public schools in NSW remain significantly under-funded while private schools are over-funde >> Read on...

New figures show that government funding increases continue to favour private schools over public schools despite the fact that public schools enrol the vast majority of disadvantaged students. The Commonwealth provided larger increases for private schools while state and territory governments continue to fail to adequately fund public schoo >> Read on...

New school funding figures show that successive Tasmanian governments have slashed funding for public schools in recent years, while the Commonwealth has boosted funding for private schools. >> Read on...

The $58 million adjustment fund for ACT private schools is the mother of all special deals. It will increase the already massive overfunding of several highly advantaged private schools and delay, or postpone indefinitely, reductions in over-funding. >> Read on...

A recent report by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) has slammed the Commonwealth Government for failing to ensure its funding of private school systems is distributed according to need. Yet, this failure is likely to continue under Gonski 2.0 as it has for the past decade or more. >> Read on...

Confidential data released by the Commonwealth Department of Education under FOI shows a massive increase in over-funding of private schools by 2027 and continuing under-funding of public schools. >> Read on...

A new academic study has found that increased expenditure on primary schools has positive long-term effects on educational attainment by increasing post-secondary participation and completion. >> Read on...

Wealthy Melbourne schools get funding windfall from massive increases in the number of disability students that are scarcely believable. They have been accused of gaming the new system for funding disability students. >> Read on...

Gonski 2.0 entrenches the structural incoherence of school funding so heavily criticised in the original Gonski report. Most private schools will be over-funded and most public schools will be under-funded. >> Read on...

The Turnbull Government’s Gonski 2.0 funding plan is fraudulent. Public schools will get $9 billion less than under Gonski 1.0 while private schools get a new, grander, special deal whereby the large majority will be over-funded. >> Read on...

The Turnbull Government has done a back-flip on its promise to abolish all special funding deals for private schools. A special deal which massively over-funds ACT Catholic systemic schools will continue for another four years. >> Read on...

Gonski 2.0 abandons public schools to the uncertainty of State and Territory government funding, which has been cut in recent years. Over-funding of private schools will be massively increased, not reduced. >> Read on...

Private schools are set to get more over-funding under Gonski 2.0, not less. The majority of Independent and Catholic schools across Australia will be over-funded while the large majority of public schools will remain under-funded. >> Read on...

Gonski 2.0 is not what is seems. It is not a good deal for public schools. It will deliver only a miniscule increase in inflation-adjusted funding per student which is only about 40% of the Gonski 1.0 increase. >> Read on...

New revelations on how the wealthy use secretive family trusts to avoid tax is more evidence of the avarice of the rich which robs disadvantaged schools and other public services of much-needed funding. The injustice is compounded by huge government subsidies for elite private schools funded by taxes paid by the rest of the community. >> Read on...

Private schools are over-funded to the tune of $4-$6 billion a year. This huge amount of taxpayer funds would be far better used to support disadvantaged students in both public and private schools. >> Read on...

PISA report shows huge disparities in shortages of educational staff and physical resources between advantaged and disadvantaged schools in Australia. This has to change if the results of disadvantaged students are to improve. >> Read on...

The Tasmanian Labor and Liberal Governments have slashed funding for public schools while Commonwealth Government funding increased. Total government funding for private schools has increased by five times that for public schools. >> Read on...

The Barnett Government has taken the axe to funding of public schools while boosting its funding of private schools. It has abandoned disadvantaged students, the vast majority of whom attend public schools. >> Read on...

Yet another new study shows that increased funding targeted at disadvantaged students significantly improves secondary school results. It provides further support for increased funding for disadvantaged students in Australia. >> Read on...

Despite the claims of the Federal Education Minister, funding matters for improving the results of disadvantaged students. Targeting funding increases to disadvantaged schools and students is fundamental to improving student achievement. >> Read on...

The Federal Education Minister’s claim about a vast increase in school funding is totally wrong. The increase per student between 2004-05 and 2013-14 was only 4.5 per cent, adjusted for inflation, and the large part of the increase went to private schools. >> Read on...

Proposals before the national education ministers’ council meeting next week involve cutting school funding by stealth. The cuts are being disguised by fiddling with the rates of annual increases in funding provided by the current funding model. >> Read on...

Total government funding per student in high fee, exclusive private schools in Victoria increased by nearly three times more than for the most highly disadvantaged public schools between 2009 and 2014. >> Read on...

Massive tax evasion by multinationals is fleecing the disadvantaged of decent health and education services. Despite Australia’s recent efforts to clamp down on tax evasion, much more needs to be done. >> Read on...

A critical factor behind the stagnation in the NAPLAN results is the continuing failure of governments to spend money where it is most needed and will do most good. Funding for public schools has been cut while funding for private schools has increased. Simon Birmingham has engaged in unscrupulous duplicities about trends in school funding that are designed to avoid further investment in reducing disadvantage in education. >> Read on...

Ending Federal funding of public schools is still on the agenda despite the claims of the Prime Minister and the Federal Education Minister that they are committed to public schools. COAG has agreed to consider the states taking full responsibility for public school funding in return for a share of personal income taxation. >> Read on...

A new study shows that school finance reforms in the US led to larger increases in funding for low income school districts than for high income districts and that this increased the absolute and relative achievement of students in low income districts. >> Read on...

The full Gonski funding plan is easily affordable by reducing tax concessions for the wealthy and clamping down on corporate tax avoidance. We cannot afford not to invest in Gonski because it will bring significant social and economic benefits. >> Read on...

A report by the Auditor-General of Victoria shows that report shows that the Catholic Education Commission is directing state government funding away from the lower socio-economic status schools to schools with a higher socio-economic status. There is also evidence that Catholic education authorities are favouring high SES schools in re-allocating Commonwealth funding. >> Read on...

Updated school funding figures show that government funding per student in private schools has increased much faster than for public schools. Funding increases for many elite private schools have far exceeded those for many disadvantaged public schools. >> Read on...